Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh said Kuwaiti women rights have been remarkably improving in the past years. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Al-Sabeeh said that the government and National Assembly are eager on furthering and protecting Kuwaiti women rights.

She pointed out that the state development plan includes a number of ambitious projects and programs to support Kuwaiti female entrepreneurs. Al-Sabeeh said that the UN-approved Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030 call for ensuring healthy lives and promote well-being for all; inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities as well.

For her part, the new UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Kuwait Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun said violence against women is alarmingly rife across the globe.

This requires a strong partnership between government and non-government organizations to address the root causes of the problem, she stated. Benjelloun expressed admiration of the highly-skilled and qualified Kuwaiti women and girls. She hoped Kuwaiti women would help raise the awareness of the world about the phenomenon of violence against women. In December 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designed to raise public awareness of the problem on that day.

Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters; political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

According to the UN figures, almost 35 percent of women and girls globally experience some form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime with up to seven in ten women facing this abuse in some countries.

Worldwide, more than 700 million women alive today were married as children, 250 million of whom were married before the age of 15. Girls who marry before the age of 18 are less likely to complete their education and more likely to experience domestic violence and complications in childbirth.